City romped to a second title in two seasons under Guardiola last term, pipping Liverpool to the championship on the final day with a points tally of 98, two fewer than they managed in their record-breaking season in 2017-18.

Critics had wondered whether the former Barca boss, who turned his old team into the best club side in the world en route to winning three La Liga titles and two Champions Leagues between 2008-12, would be able to replicate that success outside of Spain.

He won three Bundesliga titles in three seasons with Bayern but fell short of adding a third European title to his CV, crashing out at the semi-final stage three years on the trot.

But, despite going out in the Champions League last eight in his last two seasons at City, he has turned them into arguably the best team the Premier League has seen in its 27-year history.

“With Silva, Bernardo Silva, Sterling or Aguero, all of them less than one metre 20! We have done it. We don’t concede many goals and we dominate positionally. We have the same ideas that we had when we trained the Barca youth team in the third division.

“I have everything here [at City], sincerely, everything I need. Working at home [in Spain], it is hard because the emotions are so intense and the press conferences harder.

“Here, in Manchester, I have Txiki (Begiristain, City’s director of football], who is the most important person of my career because he trusted me when I was no one. I have Ferran [Soriano, City’s CEO) also, and you sometimes ask yourself, ‘how can he be that cold?’ But, at the same time, he manages with a brutal precision.

“When I win I am good, when I lose I am bad. That is the same everywhere, but in this club we are three or four people deciding in the sporting area, there isn’t the noise of 18 board members.

City have racked up an astonishing 198 points in two seasons, setting the two highest points tallies in the history of the 38-game top-flight season in England.

“I have everything I desire to do my job,” he said. “I won’t go back to Barcelona or Germany. Where can I have facilities that good to play in such a beautiful league like the Premier League?”